Growing The Silver Line Helpline

With over 10,000 calls a week and thousands more older people now receiving regular friendship calls and letters from volunteer Silver Line Friends, The Silver Line is growing at an astonishing rate. Our experience shows that we will continue to see a rising demand from older people for our support and so we need to plan for the future.

In October 2016, the helpline team moved to a new base in Blackpool – leaving the nearby offices we shared since our launch in 2013.

Sophie Andrews, Chief Executive of The Silver Line says the move is vital to the charity’s future:

“Call levels continue to grow and we have to ensure we are there, every day and night, for the people who need us – now and in the future. But we will also need to develop new services to meet our callers’ requirements. All of that has to be done carefully and the new offices will help us to grow while keeping close control of our costs.”

We need your help to grow The Silver Line

The Silver Line relies entirely on donations and with growing demand from older people we now need support for the helpline’s growth. We are investing in new phone systems and technology so we can answer more calls and future-proof our service; and recruit and train even more volunteers.

Whether you’re an individual, a company, or other organisation we would be grateful for your help. Partnering with The Silver Line, offering a gift-in kind or support with a cash donation will be invaluable in allowing the completion of this vital project which will support our long-term sustainability.

If you would like to discuss ways to help please call: 020 7224 2020

Looking to the future

We are exploring new ways of working to enable us to answer even more calls as efficiently as possible. The Blackpool base will continue to be the centre of The Silver Line’s operations to ensure the helpline is there around the clock, every day and night of the week. But we are also looking at involving more volunteers in answering older people’s calls to the helpline.

“We need to look at new, flexible ways to operate the helpline if we are to grow in a sustainable way. One option could be setting up regional helpline hubs run by volunteers in different parts of the country. This would help us to add capacity to the helpline and benefit even more from the amazing skills, commitment and life experiences of our volunteers.” Sophie Andrews, Chief Executive